


will you go somewhere with me?

by halfatmost



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: M/M, POV Richie Tozier, The Kissing Bridge (IT), but it's par for the course for king's style so i'm calling it excusable, mike stan and ben are in this but for like two seconds, pretty sure this is all movie canon but it's all a blur in my mind so there may be book references, some of the narration is probably too coherent for 13 year old richie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:55:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28557954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfatmost/pseuds/halfatmost
Summary: Richie's leaving Derry tomorrow. He's packed his things, said his goodbyes. All ready to go.There's just something he needs to tell Eddie first.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	will you go somewhere with me?

**Author's Note:**

> tw for a brief mention of s*nia

It was Richie's last day. He'd leave Derry tomorrow, probably never see his friends again. Fuck, it made him sad.

He tried not to let it affect him, to ruin the mood. The five of them (Bev and Bill had left already, her not a month after the promise and him a few months after that) had been at the clubhouse, hanging out and playing cards. It had been a perfectly fine day, and they didn't always get to all hang out together, so he wanted to just savor it quietly. If it was obvious how bummed he was, everybody else would get sad too and the day would suck.

So he acted normal, like it was just another Saturday and he'd see them all again tomorrow. Cracked jokes they all groaned at, cheated Eddie a little at poker but still lost because he was awful at it, and didn't say anything about moving.

Mike had to leave first, as always, to do his grandpa's deliveries and be back home by sundown. He remembered, which was a relief; Richie had been worried no one would and he'd have to pathetically remind them of it to get their attention. But Mike was always attentive, so he hadn't forgotten even though it had been a few days since Richie had told them and no one had mentioned it since.

"Have fun on the plane, Richie," he said. They had talked about it when he'd told them he was leaving, how he'd be the first of them to ever fly and how cool was that. "I'll miss you, dude."

"I'll miss you too," Richie said softly, uncomfortable with the sincerity.

Mike hugged him quickly, then said with his familiar, soft smile, "Bye, guys," and left the clubhouse.

They played slapjack for a while, and then Ben and Stan had to go. Their mothers had become friends recently and their families were having dinner together that night.

They each said their goodbye to Richie, soft and sweet as thirteen-year-old boys could manage. Ben said things would be awfully quiet without him. Stan agreed, adding that he hoped the kids in his new school liked jackass trashmouths.

Richie grinned like Stan had just said he won the lottery. He hugged them both, and they left.

There was a loud silence after Ben shut the trapdoor behind them. Richie let it sink in, then took a breath and said, "I'm gonna lay in the hammock."

"When do you have to go home?" Eddie asked.

He sat down. "I don't know. Dinner, I guess, like always, but my mom won't get mad today if I'm late."

Eddie nodded. "Your mom is really nice."

"Yeah, she's cool."

They were quiet again. Richie swung his feet up and laid back.

"Take your shoes off," Eddie told him.

"No," he replied comfortably. They did this all the time. 

Eddie sat down where he was, a few feet away. Then he leaned back to lay on the floor. Or ground. Whichever it was.

He was staring up at the ceiling. Richie figured he should be, too, if he wanted to be acting normal and everything. But if Eddie wasn't looking, he wouldn't see Richie looking at him. So it was fine.

"It sucks that you're leaving," Eddie said.

Richie's heart skipped a beat. "Yeah."

"Bev and Bill and now you. Everybody's gonna leave and we'll just never see each other again."

"Well," Richie said, "unless ... you know."

"Yeah. Unless that."

Richie's glasses were pressing into his skin on the side where his head rested again the hammock. It occurred to him this might be the last time he ever stared at Eddie like this, without Eddie knowing. A sort of twingy pain ran through his chest.

Suddenly Richie wanted very badly to be able to take things seriously. If he could act like a normal person for once and say something meaningful without quitting halfway through and making a joke, he could tell Eddie how he felt.

It wouldn't do much good, of course. Eddie would be weirded out, maybe even actually freak out. If that happened, Richie would feel bad. But if he would never see him again, why the hell not, right? And god, Richie just wanted so badly to say it out loud.

"When do you have to go?" he asked instead.

Eddie brought his arm up to look at his watch, then set it back down. "Like twenty minutes."

All the time in the world, to a kid. But he felt like lately he was losing that. Lately things had begun to slip by much too fast, no time seemed long enough. Was this what growing up felt like?

"I wanna say something," he said.

Eddie turned to him. "Yeah?"

The eye contact became uncomfortable nearly instantly. It was too personal all of a sudden. Damn, Richie had really thought he was going to confess love like they were in a cheesy movie and he couldn't even look Eddie in the eye.

He turned his face towards the ceiling. "I'm gonna miss you a lot."

That was pretty good. It said a lot of what he wanted to say, and it was only the first line. Maybe he could get all the way there, after all.

"I'll miss you too," he heard Eddie say. Good so far. Eddie's voice sounded sort of soft, even, kinder than usual.

Okay, next thing. He would just move down the list and eventually he would get to the crush part. Simple.

"I feel kinda bad sometimes," he said. "When I make fun of you. I just don't say it."

"Really?"

Richie turned. It hurt a little that Eddie seemed surprised, but he'd expected this to hurt some way or another.

"Yeah," he said.

"Well it's just I knew you didn't mean it, but I didn't think you'd feel bad," Eddie told him.

"Oh. Well, I do sometimes

_(it's when you're quiet. when you fuss and shout I know it's okay, that it didn't really hurt you, it's just annoying--but when you don't say anything, that's when I've stepped over the line. and it makes me sad, and it makes me scared, because all the time I fear you'll hate me)_

"so, you know, sorry," he finished.

"It's okay," Eddie said. "I ... don't mind it, usually."

Richie swallowed. "You don't?"

"Well, yeah." Eddie smiled in soft embarrassment. "That's just how you are."

"Yeah," Richie said. God, how relieved he was that Eddie understood. "Thanks."

"Sure."

That was good. Next.

He opened his mouth, and then closed it. Shit, this wasn't gonna work.

Richie hesitated.

"Will you go somewhere with me?"

"Um," Eddie said. "Okay."

"Where are we going?" Eddie asked as they walked out onto the street.

He swallowed. "You'll see when we get there."

Eddie looked at him for a minute. "Are you about to do something to mess with me right now?"

"No," Richie said. _God, I hope not. That's my excuse if you freak out but I really don't want to use it._

"Okay," Eddie replied. Richie couldn't tell by his voice if he believed him, but it didn't matter, did it.

They walked quietly, not talking much. Richie would normally be the one to start conversation, he knew that was his job when there was silence, but he was too preoccupied with staring at Eddie, and then looking away, and then staring again, and then looking away, over and over and over. It was excruciating.

They got there eventually. Finally. The waiting was over, but this was the hardest part.

"Why are we at the Kissing Bridge?" Eddie asked.

Richie screwed up his courage. "I carved one," he said. He meant it to come out sounding normal, and it did, but somehow that made it odd. He thought as soon as he finished saying it that he should have been quieter, more gentle.

"Oh," Eddie said. "Um, why--"

"I wanna show you." Again, it was too brash, too casual, and it felt all wrong. Shit, he wasn't cut out for this.

Eddie was clearly confused, of course. "Okay," he said.

Richie walked over to the carving. He knew exactly where it was. Every time he'd walked by since doing it, he'd gone and looked, run his hands over the indentations. He'd felt stupid every time, stupid for dwelling on what should've been a silly teenage crush, for not being able to leave it alone even though it always stirred up a queasy dread in the pit of his stomach. He felt that same stupidity now, familiar and dull.

He pointed to it, tapped it just slightly with his index finger, and watched Eddie lean down to look. God, his heart was pounding so fast.

Eddie glanced up at him, then back at the carving, then back up. "Um," he said as he stood, his face unreadable. "Is--"

"It's you." He felt a rush of relief at having said it, even as that dread twisted in his gut. "E. It's you."

"It's me." He seemed sluggish--not confused, just slow to process what was happening. His eyes were wide and oddly blank. "Me, and ... "

"Me. You and me."

His face was so still. "Is this a joke?"

Richie knew the answer. The answer was whatever he thought Eddie wanted the answer to be. But he realized then that he couldn't tell what Eddie wanted the answer to be, and in his ensuing panic, the truth slipped from his mouth unbidden.

"No," he said.

Eddie glanced at the ground, then back up. He was nervous. Damn, was that good or bad?

"Sorry," Richie said. "Sorry, I'm sorry--"

"No, it's okay," Eddie interrupted. And oddly, it didn't sound like a platitude. It sounded like ... like maybe it should give Richie reason to hope.

"It's okay?" he repeated, finally quiet.

"Yeah," Eddie said, just as softly. "Yeah, it's okay."

The air felt sort of heavy all of a sudden. There was a tension in the few feet between them, something unspoken but maybe, maybe, hinted at enough for Richie to be able to trust it was real.

He should do something, he thought. Say something, maybe, keep talking. He could do that, he knew he could always do that. But he didn't want to. He didn't know what he wanted exactly but he wanted something else, something more, something--

Eddie's watch began to beep loudly. He broke eye contact, looking down to turn it off, then met Richie's gaze again.

"I have to go home," he said, sort of like an apology.

"Oh." Richie nodded once. "Okay."

"My mom'll get upset if I'm late."

"Yeah, l. I know."

The moment had been ruined by the alarm, but Richie still felt a flicker of that feeling, a current running on the soft wind.

"I'll miss you," Eddie said, and Richie knew he felt it too.

"Me too. I'll miss you a lot."

Eddie hesitated, then hugged him. Richie hugged back as tightly as he dared.

Eddie let go, stepped back just slightly. He looked at Richie for a long moment, the both of them frozen, then stepped forward again and quickly pressed a kiss to Richie's cheek.

Richie could melt. He could and he would as soon as Eddie left. Just become a puddle on the concrete.

Eddie's eyes met his once more, briefly. "Bye, Richie," he said.

"Bye, Eds."

And Eddie walked away. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! have a lovely day <3


End file.
